PennO365 (Faculty and Staff): Pre-Move Checklist

Before your email is moved to PennO365, there are a few things you can do to make your experience as smooth as possible. If you have any questions about any of these steps, or about PennO365 in general, please contact your LSP (Local Support Provider):

Step 2. Save a copy of your email signatures

Email signatures will not be moved. You may want to save a copy of your signature prior to your move by saving it as a Word document. You can also copy your signature from a sent email after your account has been moved to PennO365 and re-create it that way. If you'd rather do it ahead of time, follow these instructions.

Outlook 2010, 2013, or 2016 (Windows)

Click File > Options > Mail > Signatures.

Click the signature you want to copy, select the text in the Edit signature box, and copy it.

Paste the signature into an empty Word document. This will capture any formatting you may have applied to your signature.

Save the document in a place where you'll be able to find it after your email has been moved.

Outlook 2011, 2016 (Mac)

On the Outlook menu, click Preferences.

Under E-mail, click Signatures.

Under Signature name, click the signature that you want to copy.

In the Signature box, select the text and copy it.

Paste the copied signature into an empty Word document. This will capture any formatting you may have applied to your signature.

Save the document in a place where you'll be able to find it after your email has been moved.

Contact your LSP if you would like assistance on this process.

Step 3. Save your customizations

We all organize and set up our email inboxes in a variety of ways. None of these will be moved to your new PennO365 account automatically. Here's a list of common customizations, and recommendations for saving them:

Out-of-Office messages

Outlook 2010, 2013, or 2016 (Windows)

Click the File tab, and then click the Info tab in the menu.

Click Automatic Replies (Out of Office).

In the Automatic Replies dialog box select your Out of Office message and copy it.

Paste the copied out of office message into a new Word document.

Save the document in a place where you'll be able to find it after your email has been moved.

Outlook 2016 or 2011 (Mac)

In Outlook click on Tools > Out of Office..

If you have an Out of Office message configured it will be displayed here. Copy the text.

Paste the copied Out of Office message into a new Word document.

Save the document in a place where you'll be able to find it after your email has been moved.

Email Rules

Server side rules will be automatically moved to PennO365. Client side rules, or rules that only work when Outlook is running on your computer, need to be exported and imported to your new PennO365 account once all of your data has been moved.

Click on Options in the upper right corner and then click "See All Options...":

Any rules in the "Inbox Rules" section are server side rules and will be moved:

If you have rules in your Outlook client that don't appear in the Inbox Rules section of Webmail then those are client rules, and will need to be exported and imported manually. Microsoft has easy instructions on how to export your rules for the last three versions of Outlook for Windows:

Mac users: There isn't a way to export your client side rules from Outlook for the Mac. You should note your local rules so they can be recreated:

Outlook 2011, Outlook 2016 (Mac):

In Outlook click on Tools > Rules...

The Rules window will appear:

In Outlook 2011 any client rules will be listed in the "On My Computer" section. In Outlook 2016 they are in the Client Rules section. Click on the appropriate section to see the list of rules.

Double click on a rule to see what it does, and take note so you can recreate the rule.

Email Whitelist/Blacklists

The spam filtering on PennO365 is quite impressive, however, you may have created lists of emails you've blacklisted (i.e. they won't appear in your inbox no matter what) or whitelisted (they will never be marked as spam). Both of these lists are known as the Junk Email Filter lists in Outlook.

These lists will not be automatically moved to PennO365, but you can export them and then import them into your PennO365 account from Outlook on Windows by following these directions from Microsoft:

Step 4. Review your Deleted Items/Trash folder

Your Deleted Items/Trash folder will not be moved to PennO365. If you want to keep your deleted items or spam email simply move them to another folder.

Important: The Deleted Items/Trash folder should not be used for storing emails that you might want to refer to later. Please note that emails placed in the trash in PennO365 are automatically deleted after 30 days. If you use your Trash as a way to indefinitely store email, this change in behavior will have a significant impact on you. Use a different folder for your email “cold storage.”

Step 5. Prepare your mobile devices

Make note of all of your mobile devices configured to check your work email and display your calendar, including smartphones and tablets. You'll need to reconfigure all these devices to point to your PennO365 account after you’ve moved, and having this list of devices will make sure you don’t forget to reconfigure any.

Important: When you configure a mobile device to check your PennO365 account, it will require you to set a passcode on the device. If you do this ahead of time you won’t have the additional step later.

If you use an Android device and plan to use the Outlook app on it, you will need to encrypt the device. The Outlook installation will walk you through the process, but you'll need to have your phone plugged in, and the process can take several hours though typically takes much less time.

Next Steps

Once your account has moved you can configure your devices by following these steps. If you have any questions about mobile devices and PennO365, please contact your LSP.